An old-growth tree about 130 cm dbh in the Miner's Creek drainage NE of Glacier Peak, WA. The forest is filled with very large Abies amabilis, Tsuga mertensiana and Tsuga heterophylla and has not experienced fire in at least several hundred years [C.J. Earle, 2003.09.01].

A. amabilis is commonly found with A. lasiocarpa, A. grandis, and A. procera. If cones can be observed, it is easily distinguished from these other species by having considerably larger cones than the first three, and from A. procera by having considerably smaller cones that lack extruded bracts. Lacking cones, it can be distinguished by foliage and by habitat preference. A. bifolia and A. lasiocarpa both have at least a few stomata on the upper surface, and trees in sunny spots have a strong bluish cast, in comparison with A. amabilis. Sunny-site A. procera also has a strong bluish cast. A. lasiocarpa, and A. procera are also considerably less shade tolerant than A. amabilis and you will rarely see healthy saplings growing in the dense shade of a continuous Abies canopy; however A. amabilis saplings are common on such sites, sometimes forming the dominant understory species. A. grandis occasionally shows high shade tolerance too, but it is not common within the range of A. amabilis. A. amabilis leaves are straight, linear, spread to both sides of the shoot and are commonly densely laid upon the shoot. In comparison, A. procera leaves have a variable "hockey stick" shape, bent near the base, and so appear to be even more densely laid, completely obscuring the twig when viewed from above. A. grandis leaves, on the other hand, are more strictly pectinate, so that the twig can be easily seen. In habitat, A. amabilis is typically found at higher and wetter elevations than these other species. A. bifolia and A. lasiocarpa also occur at subalpine elevations, but typically on drier sites, and rarely in the company of other high-wet site conifers such as Tsuga mertensiana and Cupressus nootkatensis. A. procera, and A. grandis in areas where it grows near A. amabilis, typically occur at lower (montane) elevations, commonly in association with Pseudotsuga menziesii or Tsuga heterophylla.

This species is characteristic of the montane zone of western British Columbia and the subalpine zone in western Washington and Oregon, where it may form mixed or monospecific stands and currently is widely distributed as advance regeneration beneath a canopy of mixed conifer species. Advance regeneration can germinate and grow under an A. amabilis conopy too dense to allow more than 10% ground cover in woody plants and herbs; it is commonly thought that these small trees subsist at least in part on carbon scavenged from root systems of canopy trees, with which their roots are often grafted. Advance regeneration trees less than 2 m tall are often more than 100 years old, and a tree may spend several centuries beneath the canopy before time and gap-phase dynamics allow it to enter the canopy. It is among the most shade-tolerant of all conifers. It has reportedly retained needles for as long as 53 years, a record exceeded only by Welwitschia mirabilis, with needle retention times in excess of 20 years quite common.

Big tree

The largest known was the Goodman Creek Tree, on Goodman Creek near Forks, Washington. This giant had a stem volume of 74 m3, dbh 237 cm, height 66.1 meters. The largest known living tree is the Cabin Lake Tree, on the north side of Black Mountain in Cypress Provincial Park, British Columbia. It has a stem volume of 63 m3, dbh 233 cm, height 46.9 meters. Only slightly smaller, the Hades Creek Fir in Olympic National Park, Washington, has a stem volume of 62 m3, dbh 210 cm, height 66.4 meters. The tallest known tree grows on the East Fork of the Humptulips River in Olympic National Forest, Washington. It stands 71.9 meters tall with a dbh of 140 cm (Van Pelt 2000).

Oldest

The oldest confirmed age is 725 years for a specimen found by Ken Lertzman in Cypress Provincial Park, BC (Van Pelt 1996). Jan Henderson (pers. comm. 1990) reports ring counts of >800 years on repeatedly suppressed-and-released stumps in Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington.

Dendrochronology

Has been widely used, almost entirely in work done since 1980. Applications have included dendroclimatic reconstruction, ecosystem changes in old-growth montane and forest-tundra subalpine forests, dating and effects of volcanic debris flows, forest decline due to volcanic ash deposition, and impacts to tree growth from aluminum smelter emissions.

Ethnobotany

The pitch was chewed as gum by native peoples, the boughs were preferred for bedding or floor coverings, and the soft, brittle wood was chiefly used as firewood (Pojar and Mackinnon 1994).

It is an important timber species due to its wide distribution and potentially rapid growth; it is primarily a source of pulp.

Observations

Fairly common in the subalpine zone within its range, and easily seen in Olympic, North Cascades and Mount Rainier National Parks (WA). It is more sparsely distributed in Oregon, though common enough in the high country of the Three Sisters Wilderness. In California, only dedicated searching will turn it up: near Hancock Lake (41.,42°N, 123.22°W) in the Marble Mountains, and in the Siskiyou Mountains between Copper Butte and Joe Creek (approx. 41.8°N, 123.2°W), localities at 1,700 to 2,133 meters elevation (Griffin and Critchfield 1972).

Remarks

This species was discovered and named by David Douglas, Scots botanist. The epithet amabilis means "lovely."